L.A. PARKER: TCA's Charles Cooke steps up for James Madison in NCAA tourney

James Madison guard Charles Cooke (4) and forward Rayshawn Goins celebrate after they defeated LIU Brooklyn 68-55 in a first-round game of the NCAA college basketball tournament on Wednesday, March 20, 2013, in Dayton, Ohio. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

Trenton Catholic Academy basketball fans waited almost 45 minutes before Drexel University’s Frantz Massenat and James Madison University’s Charles Cooke came up from their subfloor lockerroom to the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Drexel had claimed a 60-48 in a Feb. 10 meeting between the former TCA stars. The Dukes season appeared average with a 14-12 mark while Dragons (10-14) fans had dismantled all hopes for a season that had projected them as favorites for a CAA championship.

Massenat, who had finished second in POY voting for the 2011-2012 season, had been selected as a preseason conference star. Life looked bleak for two of Trenton’s top products.

Any chance for an NCAA berth existed in Richmond where the CAA would hold it’s final conference championship before moving to Baltimore next season.

Advertisement

Drexel fell while James Madison started a memorable rise. The Dukes defeated William & Mary, Delaware and finally Northeastern for a CAA championship that earned them a play-in game against LIU-Brooklyn.

James Madison played hard for a 68-55 win that sets up a second-round contest today against No. 1 seed Indiana.

Cooke, a freshman, put up 15 points including an important 3-point play that stymied one of several LIU-Brooklyn rallies.

“Charles had a pretty good game with two 3s, two blocks, three steals and five rebounds,” his dad, Charles Cooke Sr., praised.

“I talked to Charles right after the game. Of course, Charles was very happy. He talked about having a chance to play an important role for the team, about how he had a chance to show his talent. About how everyone on the team lifted up their games. Everything just went right for James Madison.”

Cooke had shown patience all year as James Madison Coach Matt Brady asked his guard to focus on defense and rebounding.

Life broke Cooke’s way when starter Rayshawn Goins was suspended for the first half against LIU-Brooklyn following last weekend’s arrest for disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice at a campus party.

A.J. Davis stepped in as a starter but Goins’ absence also meant that Cooke would receive more touches.

One touch, started with a break-out pass that Cooke collected just over midcourt, kicked off a local celebration.

“We just knew that Charles was going to dunk it. He loves that but then the defender got to him just as Charles was going up,” his dad remembered.

Cooke got the ball over the rim before it rattled around then dropped through. His successful free throw put James Madison up by seven.

“We were watching the game at a friends house and everybody started running around and screaming after that play. We went bonkers,” Cooke, Sr. said.

Cooke and his wife, Paula, will get up close and personal tomorrow as they travel to Dayton, Ohio to see James Madison take on top-seeded Indiana.

“This is a great time to make memories. You never know when a moment like this will come around again. It’s going to be fun,” Cooke, Sr. said.

***

All bracketology predictions end with Gonzaga as NCAA men’s basketball champions, at least on the six brackets filled out by Peter Yull.

It’s the same happy ending for the 1968 Gonazga University graduate.

“Until a few years ago we were considered a mid-major but after starting the season ranked in the top-25 during that time, we have lost that path to the NCAA Tournament. We’re still a little school that gets a lot of respect from the giants. Maybe we’re not quite their equal but we’re close,” Yull said.

Wow! Yull deferred when he could have with heart and hustle, triumph tonight, defended the kennel with all (his) might. Even Vince Lombardi wants to know: “What the hell’s goin’ on (out) here?”

“This is not the time to rub it in somebody’s face,” Yull said, regarding the Bulldogs No. 1 ranking and top seed in the West Region. “This has been a wonderfully humbling season. You push, push, push for a season like this. Dream about it. But once you get it, well, you wait and see what happens.”

Before 1995, the Bulldogs might as well have been Lady Gaga.

Any other year, starting in 1995 when Gonzaga lost a first-round game to Maryland, a contest Yull witnessed in Atlanta; or the next when the Bulldogs startled basketball watchers with a trip to the Elite before losing to Connecticut; or in 2009 when Gonzaga fell in a third-round game against North Carolina; Yull would be talking smack.

Now, with Gonzaga (31-2) on the lips of every basketball prognosticator, Yull backslides faster than Jimmy Swaggart at a strip joint.

Yull owns a history of sneaking up on locals at the city’s summer “Art All Night” event, a local restaurant, or some Mercer County GOP meeting; trying to lead everyone toward a Gospel according to Gonzaga.